"Future : Portland" official Selection-3rd Annual New Urbanism Film Fest -- (New POSTER!)

View fullsize

The theatrical poster for the film. "Future : Portland" will be on display in Los Angeles in October. The New Urbanism Film Festival is Oct 8-11. 

At the beginning of the summer, after the huge local reception for the film, we began to get inquiries from communities all over the country. Folks from Seattle, New York, Philadelphia, Chicago and Los Angeles reached out to us with their own stories of struggle under the weight of urban growth and ongoing development. The outpourings of support were an overwhelming and very unexpected, yet very appreciated surprise for all of us at BCP. 

In addition to words of support, we also got suggestions from some people that we should enter the film into festivals. We certainly weren't thinking about cinematic reach for the film, but in the end, we decided that sharing the film would help raise awareness. 

We learned in August that the film had been accepted in the 3rd Annual New Urbanism Film Festival (NUFF), and needless to say, we were excited. The annual four day festival in Los Angeles showcases short and feature length films submitted from around the world. The festival also hosts interactive events around the city that get audiences exploring, experiencing, and examining the built environment in fun new ways.  At this stage, the festival producers began to request materials for the promotion of the film, for which we had none. So we cooked up this one-sheet poster to provide for them and we must say that we're quite fond of it.  Definitely going to be hung in the office.  

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

Design-wise, the poster incorporates some familiar imagery from some of the iconic visual moments from the film. It features a three-image, stacked layout with Nolan Leinhart in a conference room at the ZGF offices, dead-center, looking out over the city like Bruce Wayne--modern buildings rising up into the sky. The poster is held up by the always stunning Liz Vice, clad in her bright yellow coat, staring off, hopefully into the future, and topped off by a orange/fuchsia sunrise over the I-5, Marquam Bridge ramps, looking east.  

BCP Director, Ifanyi Bell will be on-hand in Los Angeles to support the film. 

Into the World, Bravely

The release of the Future:Portland short film represents the first team effort and collaboration for the BCP team. It is a strong representation of one of the many facets of ideas, concepts and modes of expression that we plan to execute as a team in the coming months and years.  

We are thrilled that Future:Portland is being watched by so people across the country and across the world, and that folks are able to see, hear and hopefully feel and empathize with a community of people vowing to maintain a connection to the place that has made them who they are, despite tremendous challenges. We are further hopeful that the video will help to inspire conversation and bring about ideas that will help Portland through this period of growth.  

We are thankful to so many people who worked diligently to bring the project to life, including the Oregon Humanities organization; to Adam and Kathleen for their enduring support, as well as individuals who played a key role the technical construction and emotional heft of the film. Thank you to the immensely talented Portland artist, producer and icon, Sika Stanton who was critical to the success of the film and is a longstanding comrade of BCP. Thank you to Megan Diana McGeorge (a.k.a. LEO) who composed the beautiful, original score for the piece.

This is only the beginning. We have overcome mistakes and omissions, adversity and confusion on the way towards finishing this project. Our next project will give us the opportunity to apply the wisdom we gleaned from this experience in order to make an even bigger, positive impact on our community. 

As the title of this short film implies, this is only the beginning. Not just for Brushfire Creative Partners, but for all of Portland. It is with great gratitude to the generations that preceded us that we set on a path to provide solutions to some of society's most difficult problems. In our mere existence lies the foundation for the future.  We are what is now and what is next.

Crew: Margaret Jacobsen - Producer/Still Photography, Sika Stanton - Production Support, Ifanyi Bell Producer/Camera

Featuring: (in order of appearance): Joy DeGruy, Charles McGee, Liz Vice, Matt Hayes,, Avel Gordley, Donovan Edwards, Nolan Leinhert, Rukaiyah Adams, Jordan Renee, Clarke Flowers, Brandon Thornton, Joy Alise Davis, Anthony Taylor, Vincent Magee, Mia Charnelle, Modou Dieng, Justin Morris.

Special thanks to Intisar Abioto

Music by: LEO

We have arrived.

After nearly a year in the making, we've decided it's time to share the vision of BCP and how it coincides with Portland's evolution as an American city. We will reveal exactly what BCP is, how it came to be, and where we plan to take it. Most importantly, we plan on sharing with you WHY this matters. 

Brushfire Creative Partners welcomes you to our debut party. We're here. Let's go. 

 

the Idea.

After that brilliant night, and after a few text messages it was decided: WE WERE GOING TO STAND IN THE GAP. We were going to be everything every other agency wasn't. We were going to help give a voice. Encourage creating. Build a new community. 

So we met over waffles and a casserole. We talked about our strengths, rather our super powers. We talked about being African-American in Portland. We talked about the lack of diversity. We knew we were going to change that. Instead of asking ourselves "How?" we decided to simply be the answer. 

the Start.

Photo by Das Leune 

The night that set us on our journey. Because of this night, we ran with the feeling, the electricity that pulsed through out each person in the room. There was this creative spirit that we had all experienced on our own, but now together, we wanted to capture that. Extend it to others. This was the night that an idea was born.